Contentions

So the fatal shooting near Occupy Oakland last night has finally pushed Mayor Quan to call for the camp to be shut down…voluntarily. She sent an open letter asking the Occupiers to leave peacefully last night, which they promptly ignored. After what happened last time Quan sent the police in to clear out the park, will she have the guts to do it again? We can only hope, but somehow, I doubt it:

We asked the mayor’s spokesperson what’s going to happen if people don’t leave voluntarily and she did not answer the question. By the way, a recent Chamber of Commerce poll found that 73 percent of those surveyed disapprove of Quan’s handling of Occupy Oakland.

With two-thirds of Oakland voters also fed up with the protests, the mayor’s reelection chances all but hinge on shutting down the protest – or at the very least figuring out a way to maintain peace and order among the protesters.

There’s no word yet on the identity of the shooting victim, but activists continue to insist the person killed wasn’t involved in the movement. Their claim would be a bit more believable if the Occupiers hadn’t formed a human chain around the victim to prevent media from observing the scene, and even beat up an ABC cameraman who tried to get a glimpse.

Another wrinkle in the story: someone claiming to be the shooting victim’s cousin reportedly spoke last night about sharing a tent with the victim at Occupy Oakland.

But whether or not the shooter or the victim were directly involved with Occupy Oakland, it’s clearly become a magnet for crime and a citywide concern. Quan needs to stop kowtowing to the movement and listen to her constituents, or she may soon find herself out of a job.